Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will soon visit Ukraine, Indian diplomacy announced on Monday, after meeting Vladimir Putin in early July and while New Delhi traditionally maintains friendly ties with Russia.
India’s foreign ministry did not specify when Mr Modi would visit “Poland and Ukraine,” but Indian media reported it would take place later this week.
Modi has struck a delicate balance between maintaining his country’s historically strong ties with Moscow and seeking closer security partnerships with Western countries as a bulwark against regional rival China.
India and Russia have had close ties since the Cold War, and the Kremlin has since become a major arms supplier to New Delhi.
Modi’s government has avoided explicitly condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine since the conflict began more than two years ago, instead urging the two sides to resolve their differences through dialogue. New Delhi has abstained on UN resolutions targeting Moscow.
Mr Modi’s visit to Moscow in early July came hours after a Russian barrage of artillery shelling struck several cities in Ukraine, killing dozens of people and severely damaging a children’s hospital in Kyiv.
The day before, he was photographed hugging Vladimir Putin, angering Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Since the start of the conflict in Ukraine, Russia has also become a major supplier of cheap crude oil to India, a much-needed export after Western sanctions were imposed.
New Delhi has also pressured Moscow to return several of its citizens who had signed up for “support jobs” in the Russian military but were later sent to fight on the front lines in Ukraine. At least five of them have died in the conflict.
This article is originally published on journaldemontreal.com
